VALKYRIE

ENGLISH - (PG13) - 12 February 2009 - Action/Drama/War
Distributor: MGM, United Artist, 20th Century Fox
Running time: about 120 mins.
Director: Bryan Singer
Producers: Christopher McQuarrie, Bryan Singer, Gilbert Adler, Chris Lee
Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Nathan Alexander
Casts: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard, Terence Stamp, Tom Wilkinson
Plot: The "July 20 Plot" on Hitler's life is one of the most heroic but least known episodes of World War II. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg returns from Africa to join the German Resistance and help create Operation Valkyrie, a complex plan that will allow a shadow government to replace Hitler once he is dead. However fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg into an imminent ultimatum. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of his nation's government, he must also kill Hitler himself.

THE VERDICT:

Green Tea says:

WARNING SPOILER! Is this film under-rated by us? I don't seems to know why people gave a low rating. Is it because the plot to kill Hitler failed or because Tom Cruise been too heroic that makes it a disgust. I can't really tell. For what follows, it may sounds not too bad, not too good. Or else I guess many disappointed for been labeled a war movie when the only one battle was seen early in the movie.

It was taglined as based on true story. With so many movies about Nazi and Holocaust been released over the past months; the other reviewed been "Defiance", the motion that Nazi can bring may lose it appeal. Over and over, the history told us the evil side of Nazi but never tell us the other side of them - even a coin has two sides. No matter how evil the Nazi is, the plot of assassination of the famous German figure was shown correctly here, despite there were 20 other attempts to kill Adolf Hitler himself.

Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg was a nominal but heroic figure in World War 2 that we largely never knew who he was. He went back badly wounded from a battle in Tunisia with a determination to stop the violence the Nazis have for the war victim. Understandingly, he headline a group of people in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler in which he almost created the history. The famous coup was known forever as "Operation Valkyrie - Plot July 20". Valkyrie was taken from its name for the Operation Valkyrie in which it was used during the military emergency Hitler used to protect himself.

The story was good but a little underdeveloped. The focus of the story was of course mailnly on the plot designation of the attempt itself. It largely ignored the fundamental need for character development. It was a great use of dialogue although I was annoyed by their attempt to use a heavy German accent which doesn't seems to work. The movie of course cannot run away from the portrayal of the evil Nazi and its Fuhrer, adolf Hitler. One more Nazi movie after this will kind of bored to doom, in which luckily I survived the boredom.

Tom cruise isn't the hype. Sometimes we feel sympathy over his role and the rest of his cliche which have worked so hard but of course according to the true story, his plan succumbed due to bad timing and confusion during execution. Bill Nighy, one of my favourite British actor at the moment has back and his performance was competent and rich in boldness. Been a sidekick, he was awesome.

The setting of the movie will be highly praised. I like the set up of the ministry, the Nazi camp and the battlefield in Tunisia. Also, I love their outfit that they wore during the movie. It was great that the great art cinematography and direction were made use to the fullness. However, this is not a movie for people who rather not paying anything around RM7 to watch something historical. do remind you, the story of heroic Von Stauffenberg cannot be fliped through the pages of your History Textbook. It doesn't have the V For Vendetta stylish actioner but it would be just nice.

THE RATINGS.....

CAST - 4.0 stars

STORY - 4.0 stars

CINEMATOGRAPHY - 4.0 stars

EFFECTS - 3.5 stars

an overall>> 3.5 stars

GreenTea-O-Meter: 15.7